Monday, October 11, 2010

I've been a bad blogger of late. Now even my father has admonished me for my lack of posts, teasing me that all my readers were going to abandon me (including himself) unless I produced some pretty food and soon.

I explained that my lack of posting wasn't without reason. I am in good health and I've been trying to work in some kitchen time and turn out some pretty treats to post... only circumstanses haven't exactly been conducive to blogging.

Allow me to explain:

1. Let's start with the fact that my laptop currently looks something like this:

This state is due to my flinging it from my luggage at last week's conference. If there was such a thing as laptop discus throwing, I would have earned myself a gold medal. I had truly excellent distance and form.

Thankfully, my replacement is on the way.

2. I've had an unusually busy month. I have been traveling and I am leaving town once again to do volunteer work this week.

3. I'm adjusting to my new status as pregnant baking blogger. My time in the kitchen has been made complicated as the sight of softened butter now brings about waves of nausea. (Of all the possible things, why does it have to be THAT!) Not exactly a blessing for a person who often finds herself elbow deep in quanties of butter that would shock even Paula Dean.

Even thinking about butter now, as I write this, is risky. Infact, reading cookbooks is now suddenly something I do at my own peril. Where I used to find inspiration, I now find photos of evil puff pastry onion tarts that leave me heaving.﻿

Don't look directly at the onion tart!

﻿ 4. I have been baking, it is just that the results have ALL been lousy, unfortunate looking food. Stuff that doesn't belong anywhere on the blog. Maybe it has something to do with the fatigue of early pregnancy, or the accompanying absent-mindedness that has resulted in one good sized kitchen fire and four broken dishes (that's just this week). Or perhaps, it is just hard to lovingly and carefully craft desserts that the sight of which make you want to hurl.

So that is what's going on at the Humble household, Dad (and everyone else).

Hopefully my baking luck changes tonight and I can get at least one set of blog worthy baking photos to take with me on my trip, but as I've botched no less than THREE desserts today, things are not looking very promising. So if we have yet another week of absentee Ms. Humble, I hope you'll bear with me.

I did borrow an annoyingly tiny netbook for while I am on the road, so I will at the very least be getting caught up on the backlog of emails, questions and comments.

I will be home again by Saturday and that will put an end to all my traveling for a while and I can sort out things in the kitchen and get back into my blogging groove.

Patience, I do have something fun lined up for when I get back into the kitchen.

I ruined every single baking attempt for the entirety of my recent pregnancy. I thought surely something must be wrong with the oven, but no, sure enough my baked goods went right back to normal when my stomach did. I don't know what it is about the large stomach that make cakes flop. I hope you have better luck than me!Congrats on the pregnancy!

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on the news of a Baby Humble. Don't worry too much about your butter, sugar, flour baking woes, you're the real baking master now. This Bun in the Oven is definitely Masterclass. Pregnancy and childcare are so underrated. Speaking of Baking Fails, sometimes they're more fun to share. The Cake Wrecks blog, for example, is such a novelty and I still think the Bin Tarts from Mr. P's blog were classic. I'd definitely love to see your Baking Fails too so if you're ever short of material to blog...bring on the Fails. We'll still love you.

Hello! I'd just like to ask, where do you get vintage illustrations such as what you used in this post: http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2009/12/she-had-plan.html? I've tried looking around, but I couldn't find any similar ones. Thanks in advance!

Congratulations! What a great reason for not baking and posting much lately. (I mean the pregnancy. Not the laptop. Sorry to hear about THAT.) I remember how exhausting that first trimester is, especially when also chasing around kid #1. I don't blame you for taking it easy. We'll be here whenever you're back up to speed!

Congratulations on the pregnancy!! I totally feel you on that one, too - for the first 18 weeks of my current pregnancy, the thought of almost any food made me so nauseous that even just making three meals a day for my four year old was a challenge, much less thinking about making and photographing fun foods for the blog... Hopefully the laptop arrives soon and the food aversions subside quickly. And don't worry - we won't abandon you, no matter how long a break you need! :) <3

Congratulations! Hope you're feeling better soon, and up to the task of pounds of butter. Should I even type that? I don't want to be responsible for any hurling (not even of the laptop sort). I also like the idea of the fail roundup!:)

I totally know how you feel, about 3 weeks ago I had serious computer failure and it took about 2 weeks just to get it fixed and move everything over to my new computer, no worries I will still read your blog :-) Hope everything goes well and congrats on the baby!

It was the recent baby shower you baked for! The baby thing is contagious, you know! Like cooties from boys... if you get too close to one you can't wave them off! As for the flavor, I'll bet you have a pink one Ms. Humble; sugar, spice and everything nice! Congratulations!!! I am jealous, really, and will be eagerly awaiting your preggo-baker-blogger posts!http://www.babybenjaminburkhart.blogspot.com

Congrats on the bun in the oven, hope you're feeling better, soon. How about a very bland, but tricky recipe? BAGELS. I've tried twice, now, following the recipe as carefully as I can, and--confess!--each time they have turned out like proverbial discs for the Olympic discus toss. Any clues? Where I live, I can't get good bagels, and I miss them a lot. Thanks!

I KNEW you were pregnant!!! When you said you were being very uncoordinated around the kitchen and feeling ill (a while back and to be honest I haven't had time to read my fav blogs so maybe u mentioned it before this). CONGRATS!!!

BTW I'm sooo sorry about your laptop :( you're strong!! Glad to hear the new one is on it's way and take care of yourself!!

I hope this comment cheers you up - I made your tall chocolate cake for (Canadian) Thanksgiving this weekend and it was a hit! It was tasty and rich and perfectly chocolaty. Thank you for inspiring me to start baking again.

(Also, an unsolicited suggestion - what about posting some advanced technique how-to's. Your explanation about how many minutes each step takes in the tall cakes was the first time I'd seen that and it was incredibly helpful! I know part of your appeal has been the beautiful photos you post, but your descriptions of how to do things have made me a better baker!)

Hey Ms. Humble,If it makes you feel any better, your tips on converting the lemon marscarpone tall cake to cupcakes panned out well - the combo of Martha's vanilla cake, filled with the lemon curd, topped with frosting and a slice of candied lemon won the grand prize in my work's cupcake challenge! I'll think of you while spending my Williams-Sonoma gift card prize :)Michelleps - and congratulations!

Hello there! I've found your blog because of your Science Cookie Roundups, and I must say I'm amazed at all the science-cooking <3I wanted to ask you, if you could please give me the recipe of those AMAZING blood cells cookies you made (link: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_WhPHUKwckUw/S-B4m2FRftI/AAAAAAAACiM/5BrXZGMQxVc/s1600/bloodcells.JPG ) because I wanted to make them for my histology class :).Also, I'm planning to make a trilaminar embryo cake for my embryology class. I'll send you a photo for your next Science Cookie Roundup when it's done :PThank you in advance =)Hope you can solve all those probs you're having lately ^^

Congratulations! It's too bad butter is your trigger. Hopefully that will go away once you're into the second trimester. I tried all the remedies for morning sickness and I found that none of them really worked except not letting yourself get too hungry. Best of luck.

I didn't cook at all for like 5 months when I got pregnant. And I ate at taco bell, mcdonalds, and subway. And pillsbury canned items. For some reason those were the only things that didn't sound disgusting. Weird, right?

Congratulations. As a fellow pregnant lady, let me tell you that it's best just to avoid the things that make you feel sick. I lived off toast and chocolate biscuits for my first trimester, and spent an inordinate amount of time reading in the bath. The nausea started lifting at eight weeks and has been pretty much gone since 13 or 14 weeks. Now I'm even cooking again, and eating actual vegetables! Look after yourself, take a break and come back when you're ready.

pregnant? wow, congratulations!!We are not going to abandon you! come on!Well this is more important than any cake you can bake, just try to feel better and relax. Cakes will come at some point. No need to get worried about it.All the best from BarcelonaMarta

Congratulations on the pregnancy! And sorry about the computer trouble and nausea. Hope both problems will be solved soon... And don't worry about us - at least now we have time to catch up with all your recipes so far.Cheers from Zurich! :-)

Congratulations! Hope you feel better soon! I didn't have a trigger when I was pregnant with my first... other than apparently the time. Like clockwork around 3 in the afternoon I'd get nauseous and it was downhill the rest of the day from there. Out of desperation I tried those "seabands" they're like little headbands that go around your rist and have a plastic button that presses into some pressure point on wrist. I was skeptical but desperate, and they seemed to help!

Congrats on baby Humble! I just know you're going to neglect us now - with good cause! :) I'll just have to busy myself with making all your recipes that I haven't tried. Or I can keep trying to master those darned macarons...

Hey Mrs. Humble- hope the lil peanut is taking it easy on you, we miss you though! Hopefully with the onset of the 2nd trimester the nausea will let up for you and you'll feel up to sharing your lovely goodies with us again. Until then, rest up and play with your adorable little girl!

I can't tell you how much I love this blog. It's always inspiring, and I share your love for not only good, but good looking food. Thank you for putting this out there, it's re-energized my cooking lasers. :) And hello from a fellow science nerd as well!

Hope you and the humble bump are doing well, Miss Humble. Hopefully you're nearing the end of the first trimester, that should probably help you ease out the nausea and fatigue. Clearly, we all miss you :)

We miss you Ms. Humble. Hope all is well with you and your family. We will trudge through this Thanksgiving Holiday with all the wonderful archived recipes you have provided us in the past. Best regards, John Sphar